Maenad Magic and Mayhem
by hummingbirds2
Summary: This story takes place in Living Dead in Dallas, after Sookie has been poisoned by a maenad. Bill has brought Sookie to Eric's office for treatment. What happens next? Inspired by the Happily Never After Contest.


The Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mystery universe has been created by Charlaine Harris and I am only playing in it. All mistakes are my own.

This one shot was inspired by the Happily Never After Contest held by makesmyheadspin. It takes place in Ms Harris's, Book 2, Living Dead in Dallas, after Sookie had been poisoned by a maenad. Bill has brought Sookie to Eric's office for treatment, where Sookie is just about to pass out from the poisoning.

What happened next?

Maenad Magic and Mayhem

Eric winked at Sookie, as she lay face down on the couch in his office.

They said she'd turned yellow and that couldn't be good. A nice bronze tan, was always – yum. But infected maenad yellow, Sookie thought, through the haze of excruciating pain - yuk! As all faded quickly to black, her last lucid thought was that she hoped the change wouldn't be permanent.

-vv-

Sookie couldn't move and there still seemed to be a blackness. Maybe if she opened her eyes! Sookie tried, but her eyes remained firmly closed, even as consciousness was gradually returning.

It felt like she had run a marathon. Every muscle ached or seemed wired, as if an electric current had passed through leaving a fiery fizz in its wake. She cast out her telepathic net and caught 2 vampire voids in close proximity and a melee of voids, thoughts and misted snarls in a room close by. Still at Fangtasia, probably, she thought to herself. The distant dull throb of a bass drum seemed to confirm her suspicions. The bar was still open for business; the band playing well into the night. This soothed her a little. The bar was functioning as usual, maybe she was too.

Sookie relaxed fractionally, feeling less alarmed by the blackness and fiery muscles. At least her telepathy was working. She continued to lie still, deciding to just gradually tune into the surrounding environment. Absolute silence reigned around her in this room. Of course, as vampires didn't have to breathe, have heartbeats or fidget much and may even be in downtime, the two near her would be dead quiet.

Sookie wondered about her own breathing and heartbeat then. She made an effort to breathe in deeply, inhaling noisily through her nose. It was painless. Sookie was very happy, momentarily, that breathing was easy, before wondering if there was any heart beat to propel the life giving oxygen from that breath around her body. Bill could still breathe. She told herself not to panic, but her mind whirled. No heartbeat, no life. Right? No life meant dead, dead, dead or maybe, since the Big Reveal, undead, undead, undead. What could be worse? Right?"

Sookie heard how her own breathing had become raspy and shallow, panicky at her deathly thoughts. She almost heard the adrenaline rushing through her veins and burning through her arteries in response. And then she knew. She felt it - a galloping beat - her heartbeat, fast in response to her fright. Joyously, Sookie supposed she must really be alive and that was great, just great.

Then, she heard a movement to her right, felt a stirring in the air over her skin, and reaching out telepathically again; felt one of the voids shift closer to her. Sookie supposed a suddenly galloping heartbeat in a quiet room, would easily stir a vampire, even one in downtime. She wondered how long they had all been here. She certainly felt as if she had been in some sort of significant downtime herself.

Sookie's mind whirled again. What had happened to her? Ah! the argumentative Bill, the messaging maenad, the licking dwarf doctor, and Eric, winking Eric. What had happened after she had turned yellow? Eric had said he owed her the healing. Licking? Draining? Transfusions? Well, at least her telepathy and heart seemed to be working. Her hearing too was crystal clear, as a nearby door opened and closed; one of the voids had left. Sookie's telepathy quickly tuned in, following the departing void. Then she heard. _Here's Pam. There must be some change in Sookie's condition. It's the third night since she acted as the maenad's message to me. There must have been a lot of magic along with the poison. Dr Ludwig has been very surprised, peeved even, that her treatment hasn't cured Sookie. _Sookie saw a vision of herself encased in a golden yellow glow. Surely she wasn't still yellow! Sookie continued to eavesdrop mentally. _I owed her the healing, but I wonder if healing is what it is – more like some sort of turning or transformation..._

Sookie tuned out. Transformation! Some sort of turning! What was Eric thinking? Her body did still feel a bit sparky, sort of zingy, but she felt good. Did she really have a golden glow? Then it dawned on Sookie. She had heard Eric thinking - again. It had been bad enough the first time when it had been just a flash whilst reading humans to help find Eric's missing bar money. Now, it was crystal clear like a well tuned in radio signal. Why Eric? He was probably the last person, if that's what he was, on earth Sookie wanted to hear. He was certainly one of the most dangerous to be hearing. At least his mind did not feel like a pit of snakes this time, but Sookie was sure Eric would not like anyone knowing his thoughts. If she had not been nearly dead from maenad attacks, murderer's beatings, and attacking vampires, this should surely kill her off.

Sookie realised Eric was still thinking about turnings, when humans became vampire. She wasn't really sure of the turning process, but feeling her own heartbeat, full of life, was reassuring.

Eric thought about the bad turnings he had seen. Bad turnings, thought Sookie! Was she a bad turning and some sort of vampire, after all. A heart beating, disabled one, at that. Eric thought about someone called Bubba, who had been turned very late, too late, by a morgue attendant. _Still Sookie hadn't ingested any vampire blood after the draining, so is she something new entirely?_ That train of thought broke off, as action seemed suddenly demanded. _I must see Sookie's latest condition._

Sookie decided to open her eyes to see what she did look like; what was her condition? Her eyes opened easily this time to immediately be drawn to the golden haze, a shimmering glow, encasing her body. The haze tightly followed her skin, or what she could see of it. Her arms and legs were exposed, while her midsection was covered, preserving her modesty. Her glow was reminiscent of the glow exuded by vampires. Thinking about vampire glows reminded Sookie of her silent companion – the remaining Sookie-sitter in the room. She looked towards the void and her eyes met Bill's dark gaze, then met Eric's, glacial blue, as he opened the door behind Bill.

Eric smirked and then winked at her. The loud thump of Fangtasia's band followed Eric through the open door, but Sookie heard over it the whoosh of air as Bill rose to levitate over her. The shifted air flowed sensuously over her sensitive glowing skin, as her attention refocused on Bill now hovering above. She returned Bill's scrutiny from her prone position on a bed. Before she could ask where, what, when or why, Sookie locked onto Bill's thoughts. _Her eyes are glowing too? What __has happened to the telepath? Secure and procure, Queen Sophie-Anne had ordered. Damn, I will __be in terrible trouble if she is impaired in any way._ _Still I might be able to deflect some of the blame to Eric. The maenad harmed Sookie to get Eric's attention..._ Sookie's expression became confused and alarmed at the unexpected words and tone of Bill's thoughts. Suddenly, she was the telepath! What had happened to the endearments, like sweetheart. Then she remembered how Bill had shaken her like a sack of potatoes when they had arrived at Fangtasia after the maenad attack; how he had blamed Eric. Well, something just wasn't right here in more ways than one, she decided.

Bill's expression suddenly softened as he took in Sookie's alarm and he settled himself to the floor, thinking his hovering position over Sookie had been rather threatening. Eric registered the alarm too and spoke over his shoulder to an unseen void outside the door. "Call Dr Ludwig," he ordered. "Now."

That got Sookie's attention. "Dr Ludwig again, Eric," Sookie's whispered, her throat a little dry. "Does that doctor know what she is doing? Look at me, I'm positively glowing and possibly not in a good way!"

"You heard me speak to Pam?" Eric asked surprised. His eyes stared into Sookie's, as if he was trying to glamour an answer or understanding out of her.

"Yes, of course, I heard," Sookie said. "I haven't gone deaf or stupid. I just glow it seems. Is this a side effect of Dr Ludwig's treatment? I have never seen anyone glow after a blood transfusion. You did use human blood, O positive, Eric?"

Eric looked a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't about the blood. Before Sookie could press him further, her attention switched to Bill, as he questioned, "Sweetheart? Eric was speaking at vampire speed and volume, and you heard him? You replied to him at that same speed."

"I did?" Sookie exclaimed. "I can't do that. I'm not a vampire. Am I? Bill, what has happened to me? You gave me human blood, didn't you? Eric?" Sookie's eyes moved again to stare at Eric who was still standing by the door to the room.

"Human blood was used. You are not vampire, Sookie," Eric replied.

"You thought I looked like I had been through a transformation. What have I transformed into, Eric? You said you owed me the healing. Bill, is this healing? What has happened?"

"Shh, shh, sweetheart. We are not certain as to what has happened. The doctor will be here soon," Bill responded, trying to soothe with a calming tone.

Sookie was not soothed. "What do you mean you don't know what has happened? Dr Ludwig said a blood transfusion would fix me. Eric agreed." Sookie was frustrated. Her questions were not being answered. Her glow pulsed a little, seemingly in tune with her agitation.

Without thinking, Sookie sat up. Eric's eyebrow hitched. "That was definitely vampire speed," he observed.

"But this is definitely not a vampire glow," Bill absently commented, "Much too bright and somewhat volatile, and the eyes..." Bill's voice trailed off as he seemed to be held in place by Sookie's intense gaze.

Sookie had had enough. "Has someone got a mirror? Let me at least see what I have transformed into," she demanded, her voice pitched high and now clear as the tension ratcheted up.

Eric looked a little amused. Sookie sat bare breasted in the bed. The red silk sheet has slipped away as she had bolted upright. He fondly remembered brushing against those two beauties as he had moved Sookie's body into a comfortable position to drain away some of the poisoned blood. It had been exquisite, even with the poison. A delicious, magical taste that had held him almost spellbound. It had been much harder to stop drinking than it should have been.

Back in the present, Eric ignored the request for a mirror and moved straight to his main concern. "It is some type of transformation, but you know that I _think_ that already. Don't you, Sookie? Tell me, how did you know I _thought_ you were transformed, my little glowing telepath?" Eric's amused expression had turned to one of suspicion, but he smiled at her response.

"I am not _your _anything, Eric, but I am glowing, so explain." She hoped she had deflected Eric from his astute observation about her earlier comments regarding his thoughts. Sookie realised with a sinking feeling that trouble seemed to be looming from all directions. Bill and this Queen, Eric and his not unfounded suspicions. And then, a movement in the doorway behind Eric caught her troubled attention. It wasn't Dr Ludwig; it wasn't Pam.

The maenad, dressed in some sort of animal skin and thankfully minus the smelly pig, actually ran into the room smiling. She halted next to Sookie. "I have just run and run to find you - my messenger transformed."

Sookie had expected both vampires to spring into action to protect her from this attacker. Well, Bill anyway, but both remained still. Bill may have even levitated back towards Eric's close-to-the-door position.

"Callisto," Eric greeted the maenad. Sookie noticed he did not really look at Callisto, even though the maenad had her back to him.

Without saying anything further, Callisto shook one of the the long ivy covered sticks she carried at Sookie. Sookie screamed and cringed expecting the terrible clawlike slashing to hit her, as it had in the woods before. Instead, her golden glow snapped to her skin. It did give her a lovely tanned look Sookie noted, as she glanced down her body. Bare breasts, she realised, with a start. Shit. No wonder Eric had been amused. Still, at this stage bare breasts seemed to be the least of her troubles. Callisto was looking at her intensely, lovingly, and that was creepy.

Ignoring Eric's greeting, Callisto crooned to Sookie."My beautiful, newly immortal child, you will be with me now. We will wander the earth together seeking out pleasure, to worship our God Dionysus. I will teach you the way of the maenad." Her words hummed with desire, her face ecstatic with pleasure.

Sookie turned horrified, incredulous, (and, yes, glowing) eyes to Bill. Callisto turned her own gaze to Eric. "You were not swift with your tribute, Northman, but my messenger has become _your_ tribute to_ me_. You have minded her well. Her magical transformation on this, the third night, will be celebrated now here at your bar and that will be _your_ tribute to _her_. She is maenad and she is now mine."

Sookie knew Eric was thinking of carnage and how maenad celebrations were notoriously hard to clean up after. They could send their madness to you through your eyes, and then it all was truly mayhem. Fleetingly, he recalled how difficult maenads were to kill; not fire, not poison; their skin, like an armour; their speed and senses often greater even than a vampire's.

"I'm no maenad, whoever you are!" Sookie snapped, as Eric and Bill remained subdued.

Callisto smiled at Sookie's outrage, her anger. High emotion always gave her pleasure. "I am Callisto. I am your mother, your sister, your daughter," she explained patiently.

"Crazy, is what you are," thought Sookie, but she said, "Again, I'm no maenad and you are certainly not related to me, mother or sister or daughter."

"That is where you are wrong, my little one. You have transformed and this can only occur when there is a maenad ancestor in your blood line. This blood, our ancient maenad blood, has lived on in your family. It is certainly in you or you would not have altered through the thyrsus magic."

Sookie gathered that a thyrsus was a long ivy covered stick or wand-like thing, as Callisto had vigorously shaken the two she carried, when speaking. "Your otherness through blood and magic has been almost fully ignited," Callisto continued.

Sookie had to admit she had always wondered where her telepathy came from. She was human but telepathy wasn't a human trait. But maenad! She hadn't even thought maenads were real until a couple of nights ago. What did a maenad even do?

As if reading her mind, and she probably did, Callisto explained, "Maenads love pleasure, to honour our God; parties, especially ecstatic frenzies to share our joy with others. We love to share our delirium. Send our madness, some say." Callisto's eyes flicked to Eric briefly as she said this, before continuing. "We love dancing and intoxication, sex and hunting."

"Well, that doesn't sound like me," Sookie said, "although I do love to dance, but who doesn't?"

"Have you not always been happy working at a bar, full of drunkenness with all its sexual and violent possibilities? Have you not always enjoyed worshipping your God? You will be just as diligent in worshipping your new God, Dionysus. Have you not always been called Crazy Sookie? Maenads have often been known as the raving ones. Have you not attracted violence to you? I have hunted with your friend, Sam Merlotte, and I know you can hunt too. You are an excellent shot."

Sookie was momentarily distracted from the maenad's commentary. "You know Sam?" she queried, surprised.

"Oh yes!" The maenad replied, actually looking a little dreamy. "We have hunted in the woods, tearing many an animal to pieces and eating its fresh, warm, raw flesh. And then we have celebrated the hunt with wine and fucking. Oh yes. Maenads love violence, drunkenness, and sex." Her attention reverted to Sookie, appraising.

"Sam wants you, too, my lovely. We will hunt and celebrate together soon. A ménage-a-trois in the woods, with the shapeshifter, after a long, bloodthirsty hunt will be an excellent outdoor initiation."

Callisto smiled as if she was bestowing upon Sookie, the greatest honour possible.

"I am not going anywhere with you." Sookie looked at Bill and then Eric for support. Neither would meet her eyes. "Bill, will you at least look at me. Where has all this mine stuff gone now?" Sookie demanded.

"We cannot look at you, Sookie. Maenads send their madness to minds through eye contact," Eric explained, for Bill, who was looking pale, even for a vampire.

"Aw, come on. I'm no immortal maenad," Sookie protested, but silently thought there may just be some truth in Callisto's argument.

Callisto continued on with that argument. "Have you not always been able to see into the minds of others; witnessed their deepest, darkest fantasies and desires? Have you not wondered if you could suggest _things_ to these minds laid open to you?"

This idea struck a chord with Sookie. She was pretty sure she could do that suggestion stuff to a certain extent. Her telepathic skills had been growing, since she had been practising them for the vampires.

"Yes?" Callisto queried and Sookie nodded in response.

Suddenly, Callisto threw the second thyrsus she had been carrying high into the air. Sookie caught it easily, even though it had been flying at an incredible speed.

The moment Sookie caught her thrysus, Callisto chanted, "To raise my Bacchic shout, and clothe all who respond, In fawn skin habits, and put my thrysus in their hands, The weapon wreathed with ivy-shoots, Reverence it well."1

As Callisto finished, the brute wildness from the very phallic looking thyrsus, pulsed into Sookie's being; into every, now immortal, cell. It was all intoxication; a pleasure so intense that Sookie screamed long and hard in orgasmic ecstasy.

In the dead silence following, Sookie looked down at the fawnskin now covering her body, kissed her thrysus's tip and smiled at Callisto. "Let us celebrate," they said.

-vv-

Hours later, Eric stood in the main bar area of Fangtasia looking at the carnage wreaked by Callisto and the now maenad-in-training, Sookie. Blood, wine and a variety of sexual juices streaked the walls, floors, ceiling and what remained of the furniture, equipment and soft furnishings. Several humans still lay amongst the debris. Their bodies were ripped into small and large pieces, entrails and other innards, chewed or unchewed, scattered around them. The pungent smell of urine and excrement, passed in terror or pleasure, still hung in the air.

Glancing around once more, Eric realised he actually felt tired. Maybe, it was as a result of having to glamour so many humans, to forget the ectascy and savagery that had taken place at Fangtasia this night. Those that had been grievously injured, but salvageable, had been taken away by Dr Ludwig, who had arrived just after the 'celebration' had begun. She had been glad to understand why her Sookie-cure had not worked as expected. She was even thinking of writing it up in the Supernatural Scientific Journal, with permission from the maenads themselves, of course. You did not want to antagonise a maenad, Eric knew to his cost, both financially and possibly, personally.

Fangtasia would have to be completely cleaned, stripped, redecorated and refurbished. Unhappily, Eric's strongest instinct was telling him to just burn the building to the ground, bodies and all, and start from scratch. Maenads never did clean up their mess, and explaining dismembered humans to the authorities was very problematic since the Great Revelation. An enormous loss of income was inevitable, either way.

Still he, his child, Pam, and all the vampires in his retinue had survived, apart from Bill. He remembered the little burn on the carpet in the bedroom where Sookie had 'risen'. That mark was all that remained of Mr Compton.

To begin the celebration after 'rising', Sookie had immediately sensuously glided over to Bill. With incredible speed and dexterity, she had released Bill's penis and begun to masturbate him with long firm strokes. Enjoying the frisson of sexual excitement that had immediately filled the room, Eric had watched the action; Bill had looked into Sookie eyes, probably forgetting in those moments of pleasure, that she really was maenad. Sookie had sent her madness into him, all the while screaming of betrayal and deception and something about procurement for Sophie-Anne. Then she had torn his penis from his body, fingers acting like claws, before ripping out his undead heart and staking it with her wooden thyrsus handle. Blood had sprayed all over.

And so the party had begun, with Sookie, no longer the sweet southern belle, almost virginal and naive. Bloodied maenad, she had been. Eric remembered one gaze, though, during the long frenzied night. She had caught his eyes fleetingly during the mayhem. She had been drinking a large glass of gin and tonic while having sex with Pam, doggy-style, using a strap on device. He had thought how beautiful she was, but feared that she would send her madness to him. In a way he had brought this madness to her, because he had been tardy in organising tribute for Callisto. But Sookie had not sent her madness, she had sent fear; her own fear and terror at the terrible things she now felt welling within her. With her eyes, she had begged him to help her. He had known her anguish at the carnage she was taking part in.

But the moment had passed swiftly and Sookie had turned to grab her thyrsus to whip Pam across the buttocks several times before slamming it into the floor. For a second, he had thought she was going to stake Pam and his body had felt dead, truly dead, for that second, bereft. Instead, a springlike torrent of wine had appeared where the wand had passed through the floor boards. Magical, indeed.

Eric's thoughts wandered back to Sookie's earlier ravings about procurement and he wondered what Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq had to do with Bill being in Bon Temps. He expected he would find that out when reporting Bill's final death to the Queen. He had no choice in that. A member of his retinue, and possibly one of the Queen's procurers, had been killed by one of his 'human' assets. At the same time, he had also lost the valuable services of a rare telepath. Unhappily, it appeared that some sort of punishment would be coming his way, especially if Sophie-Anne had wanted Sookie very badly and liked Bill very much. He wasn't looking forward to a visit from Bill's maker either. Lorena had always been unhealthily obsessed with her child and would want some sort of monetary compensation, to say the least.

Eric made his way slowly into the bedroom where Bill's fate had been handed to him so swiftly. He recalled how he had watched, actually astounded, as Sookie had finally changed into an immortal, a maenad, the moment she had finished screaming with pleasure after clutching the thrysus thrown to her by Callisto. She had been glorious in her wildness and fawnskins.

He looked at the bed with the red silk sheets, all askew, and envisioned Sookie as she had lain there for three nights – a very desirable, beautiful, sort of human telepath. She had intrigued him. He had known there was something about Sookie, something alluring and other, and so he had watched over her during those nights. He wondered if Callisto had really got what she was expecting. Was there something else about Sookie that none of them knew yet? Was there some other factor in the mystery that was Sookie Stackhouse? His gut instinct said there was.

He recalled her eyes pleading with him for help as she had fucked Pam, so magnificently. He had understood then that Sookie, the human telepath, was still there somewhere, warring with Sookie the new born maenad. He had also seen a glittering flash of some sort of magic surround Sookie and then disappear, like a spark lost or fighting for existence. He wasn't sure if that was the way maenad transformations were supposed to be. Who knew? He did know of the pain of transition though. Although his own transition had been from human to vampire, and a thousand plus years ago, Eric remembered the torment and the ecstasy well. He knew that not all beings could survive the changes in nature necessary to exist in the immortal world - a world, very often entered without choice or consent.

Now outside, from a safe distance, he watched his beloved Fangtasia burn while wondering if Sookie would be an immortal who was happy never after.

Epilogue

Sam Merlotte mourned the loss of his friend, Sookie, even though he knew she lived. Eric and Pam finally died in a bombing in Rhodes, a year or so later. Sophie Anne Leclerq finally died in a hostile takeover by Felipe de Castro soon after that.

1 The Bacchae and Other Plays, trans. By Philip Vellacott, Penguin, 1954


End file.
